HiQ launches £500k advertising campaign

Fast fit retailer, HiQ has announced that it will invest £500,000 into a national advertising campaign, re-entering mainstream advertising as a network after an eight-year absence. The network made “a conscious and strategic decision” to delay this scale of mainstream advertising in order to develop the full HiQ Franchise programme say company sources, with investment funnelled into customer service initiatives and training. The newly announced spending will be part of a seven figure investment in HiQ Programmes in 2012.

“In recent years we have invested heavily in our customers and our network to deliver a service incomparable to that of our competitors.” HiQ’s retail director, Peter Tye says. “Behind a great advertising campaign must be the foundations of a great business model and we have spent time and money in developing this for the franchise network.”

Tye explains that HiQ has “invested in a range of initiatives from training our technicians’ in-store and through the HiQ Academy programme, to launching an online customer ratings and recommendations tool to build consumer confidence.” The company claims it is the only fast fit network to self-regulate its technicians and work in voluntary association with the Industry of Motor Industry and the Automotive Technician Accreditation programme.

The work the franchisees and network are doing, Tye says, will underpin marketing campaigns now and in the future: “Now is the best time for us to re-enter the marketplace and undertake a national campaign to shout about what we have on offer.”

Geraldine McGovern, HiQ’s marketing manager, explains the importance to the brand of radio, on which HiQ will pitch a “mega tyre sale” to raise brand awareness across the country. She says hundreds of regional radio stations will broadcast information about sale priced tyres on offer at each centre.

“It’s a multi-agency brief which has been developed through Connect Advertising and PR, McCann-Erickson Bristol and Mediacom and is supported with fully integrated programmes online and offline with point of sale, direct marketing campaigns and social media advertising.” McGovern concludes. The campaign will span 11 weeks, with 97 per cent of the network opting in to the marketing spend.

“The mega tyre sale sits in conjunction with any high street brand offering a mid-season sale,” Tye continues. “Customers not only get great value for money but they can actually see they are getting great value for money in a friendly and welcoming environment.

“The mega tyre sale is our single largest campaign investment in many years but I’m confident its money well spent. Our considered approach has meant we’ve been able to work from the bottom up and review what works and what doesn’t. Our standards are second to none and we hope the campaign will drive people into our centres to take advantage of the massive savings on offer.”

Related news:

• HiQ to switch to “nearly all” online promotion
• HiQ calls TAFF Retailer win its “biggest success” of 2011
• HiQ to anticipate tyre labelling in network developments